.s. officials dismissing bashar al-assad's statement as meaning lease to cling to power. what did president bashar al-assad say for the first time in several weeks. >> essentially the president said the same old thing we've been hearing for a longtime. i'm going to stay in power, we are at war and it's time for syrians to fight for their country. he proposed a peace plan which everyone else laughed at because they said it involved bashar al-assad staying in power, and they say it showed that bashar al-assad had lost touch with reality. this is bashar al-assad very much in control. he has a lot of supporters there in the damascus opera house there in the capitol from which he was speaking, a lot of applause there and was speaking live on state television. his detractors will say what what they will, but many people have predicted bashar al-assad's demise over the past 18 or 20 months, they say his days are over. this is a president very much in control of his capitol and much of his country, bill. bill: does that speech change anything on ground, leland. >> reporter: not rile the violence co
